Independent TD for Laois-Offaly Carol Nolan has said she has “absolutely no intention” of becoming a member, parliamentary or otherwise, of the new rural party currently headed by her independent colleagues, Michael Collins, and Richard O’Donoghue.
Deputy Nolan was speaking after being invited to take part in discussions with Independent Ireland party representatives last week
“I had the enormous privilege of being elected in 2020 by the people of Laois/Offaly as a fully independent TD. It is my firm intention to again run as a fully independent TD whenever the next general election is called,” Deputy Nolan said.
“While I wish my colleagues well, I have seen up close and personal how political party structures really work; how they start off with good intentions but end up suffocating genuinely independent thought and how they often operate behind a mirage of authentic democratic engagement.
“I have no wish to become complicit in fostering or presenting such an illusion of ‘change’ to my constituents when the reality is quite often completely at variance with that.
“We do not need a model of political engagement that is a watered-down version of the kind of establishment politics that we already have in abundance,” she added.
Deputy Nolan said that she believes that Irish politics needs the “courage of the outsider and the change-maker”.
The independent TD added that Irish people need someone who is “not driven by an ambition to get their feet under a ministerial table”.
“Irish politics needs people who can present in a constructive and as collaborative a way as possible a critique of government policy while also offering alternatives and solutions,” she continued.
“A genuinely independent TD can transform and challenge the dominant narrative on any given issue and is unrestricted in terms of being answerable to anyone except the electorate.”
Independent Ireland party
Last week, the Independent Ireland party, which has already recruited Roscommon-Galway TD Michael Fitzmaurice announced two of its first local elections candidates.
Cllr. Declan Geraghty, the cathaoirleach of the Ballinasloe Municipal District, has been chosen to stand for election in the Ballinasloe Local Electoral Area (LEA) for the upcoming local elections on behalf of Independent Ireland.
Earlier last week, the party announced that former Fianna Fáil member, Cllr. Shane P O’Reilly would run on behalf of Independent Ireland in the Co. Cavan local elections.